C. J. Walsh

Wilco - Gathering of the Vibes Fest 2015

 

Wilco

Gathering of the Vibes Festival

Seaside Park, Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA

August 1, 2015

View: Stage left, midway back

 

   Wilco unfurled their new album, Star Wars, from cover-to-cover for the assembled at the Vibes. Fortunately it’s a winner, sometimes emitting a psychedelic haze that was mathematically precise. Of the newbies, Random Name Generator was a standout, where the band worked that haunting drone they manage so well. On King Of You guitarist Nels Cline worked some unfathomable distortion, with all the discordant catchiness that’s his stock-in-trade. Jeff Tweedy’s white trilby and Mark Twain t-shirt stood out amidst the prevalent tie-dye of the Vibes crowd but he could’ve come out in his birthday suit.

   Halfway through the concert Handshake Drugs and Passenger Side gave a reminder of Tweedy’s inebriated years and signaled the shift to the familiar, along with I Am Trying To Break Your Heart and Jesus, Etc.

  The set wrapped up with the ubiquitous Warren Haynes layering his guitar across the firmament of California Stars.

 

Published in Record Collector Magazine